book giveaway: the hip girl’s guide to homemaking

4.19.12 | 2:10pm

Now that spring has officially sprung, we find ourselves ready for new projects, around our houses and outside. We keep coming back to our friend Kate Payne’s The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking, an all-purpose guide to doing-it-yourself in your home (and having fun, too) – for ANYONE, whether hip girl or not. (We think it would be a great book for guys setting up their first apartment.)

The books covers a ton of ground, from what you need to stock your home (and how to make your own resources) to the basics of easy, stylish home design. She has trouble-shooting options for virtually any common home mishap. It was Kate’s blog, of the same name, that we turned to last week when we needed instructions for how to hang pegboard in your kitchen.

Some of our favorite springtime gems from Kate’s guide include, her how-to on setting up your own bucket garden;

photo: kate payne

…her advice on the best kind of plant-starts, and dresser drawer plant beds;

photo: kate payne

and her easy instructions for first-time canners who want to preserve the fruits and veggies that are about to start popping up…

photo: kate payne

But she has so much more indispensable knowledge to share, like general rules for freezing foods and how to choose the best (and safest) home cleansers.

One of our favorites: Eight Fun Things to Do With a Loaf of Homemade Bread:

#1: Eat it all immediately.

photo: Kate Payne

We want to give Kate’s book a good home with someone looking for some guidance! In the comments, tell us what project around the house or in your garden you’re most looking forward to tackling this spring/summer, and we will randomly choose a commenter to receive a free copy of this great book.

Since we’re going to be moving, we’re going to give this giveaway a month: Deadline May 19, Midnight.

We will be creating raised beds, in the hope to actually harvest something this year! We have been trying to carve a garden out of the woods around our house (being foiled again and again by the roly-polys!) and now we are just moving the garden to a sunnier spot.

I’ll be painting the concrete porch on our 120 year old house. many years ago the concrete replaced the wooden porch and even though the pillars remain, it has never looked right. I’m pondering what pattern/design/geometric shapes might be the most fun.

I have an old pine dining room table that is starting to splinter. I am hoping to finally sand it down and possibly, just possibly stain and re-finish it myself. This is a sort of pipe dream, too, as I hardly know what I’m doing!

As a mom whose kids have flown the coop, I want to get back to my earthy roots and have a warm and wonderful and earth-friendly home that my kids and my friends will love to visit…to concoct yummy things in the kitchen, to throw about ideas in the living room and to just generally enjoy my space.

I’m excited to have my first really big vegetable garden this year. I’ve had container or small raised beds before but never a full sprawl like I have now! I’m excited but very intimidated and could use any guidance I could get on the actual gardening and on canning and preserving my harvest later.

planting and keeping ANYTHING alive! I love canning, I love baking, I want to be more “self sufficient” and think growing a few things to show our kids where our food comes from, how it grows, etc. would be on the top of my list

I am looking forward to growing some of my own food – a lot of different varieties would be great, but since this is my first season, just hoping at least the tomatoes survive and don’t get eaten by chipmunks!

I just hung a few gutter gardens on a long concrete wall that are now filled with seedlings. Now onto the tough at the bottom of the wall. It will have tall climbing stuff that I can train up the wall – especially cucumbers, beans, and squash. It’s the start of an edible wall and the end to an ugly eye-sore!

I am new to canning and gardening. Just moved into my first house this April! I have built raised beds and I plan on filing them with tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Ideally I’d like to can marinara sauces, pickles and pickled peppers this fall! Cross your fingers!

Oh gosh! And our most favorite thing we are looking forward to (how could I forget?!) We are going to be building our very own Little Free Library. You can read more about it here: http://www.littlefreelibrary.org

We just bought out first house! I am REALLY looking forward to making my craft room an awesome space to be in. I have bits of inspiration, but don’t have a precise vision yet. I know these two things: the paint will be mustard yellow (i find it inspiring), and everything will be completely DIY/repurposed/upcycled. It was double as a guest room, and I plan to make a backboard for a “daybed” out of on d door!
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Making a room in our basement useful as a family room and as a craft room. Framing, electrical, insulation, sheet rock, taping, sanding, and painting. Hopefully there will also be time for some minor landscaping and gardening outside!

Pick just one?! My boyfriend and I moved onto a full-working organic ranch to housesit for the spring/summer. We are doing gardens, keeping the house running with lots of cooking, ecologically managing the horses, barn and pasture.. and I don’t have a lot of money! It would be great to get some ideas on creativity, cheap solutions to still do awesome things with a property that is submersed in nature.

I don’t really have a permanent residence right now, but each place I go, I’m hoping to leave a little garden that will be low-maintenance and high yield! I’m currently in Memphis for maybe two months, which will be my longest stay any place since September! I am thinking of making a bee/butterfly/hummingbird garden in the tasty soil around the AC unit, planting tomatoes on one side of the house and catnip at the other (there are many cats, and I want them to leave the tomatoes alone!). I plan on using soda bottles and milk jugs to help with watering and sun/storm protection!

The project I am most looking forward to this summer is building a keyhole garden (check out this link if you don’t know what one is – http://www.cowfiles.com/african-gardens/keyhole-gardens). Then, after building and planting full of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and cilantro, I’m going to make and can salsa! Wheeee! I’d love a copy of your book

I’m looking forward to, and behind on, setting up new beds to house the 13 varieties of heirloom tomatoes I started from seed this year. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me. That’s 50 plants, when last year I planted 10. There is benefit in not having cash to landscape my yard. It’s free for jobs like this!

So many fun projects for the summer! Re-painting backyard chairs, planting my community garden, planting my home backyard herb garden (adding to the crop this year!), canning tomatoes. I’d also like to create a small painting studio for myself in the guestroom. I have the small eisel and the paint, just need to create an inviting space.

We recently moved from the suburbs out to a little four-acre homestead in the country. SO MUCH to do! But our #1 goal for this summer is to get the agricultural infrastructure ready for NEXT year’s planting (= building a whole slew of raised beds) and finishing up the chicken coop so we can finally start feeding ourselves!

I am really looking forward to building a new shed in the backyard, with my husband, that can designated for only gardening stuff. Along with getting a head start on my seeds so i can possibly get a 3 crop rotation this year.

This summer I really want to learn how to preserve my own food. My friends and keep on talking about it. This is year two of my own organic garden and I really don’t want any of my stuff to go to waste, therefor, I need to learn how to jar it!

I am determined to find new homes for many of the wonderful things that currently clutter my home. The garden needs my attention, too, so I expect to be busy between volunteer commitments that seem to grow in importance and time!

Where to start? The big spring project is MARKET GARDEN! Gonna grow til I can’t grow no more and then take it to market. Then when the summer months take hold, I’ll be planning WAY ahead for winter – a massive FALL garden to try to keep fresh produce going as long as possible without a greenhouse (but probably row covers). Maybe foolishly, I’m picturing a Winter Solstice dinner party plucked fresh from the backyard – escarole and onion soup, chard/spinach/arugula salad, hearty whole grain bread, sweet parsnip and carrot crisp for dessert….I CAN DO THIS!

I have a teeny tiny strip of yard that lines my rental. I can’t wait to build a fence to surround part of it and protect my yard from neighbors who are looking for an organically grown treat! I’m also an avid canner and I’m very anxious for the season to start. This book would be super helpful to me!

I am tackling our back yard and using non-chemical weed killing methods to clear sections for gardening and landscaping. I plan to have the best looking yard in the neighborhood with the biggest veggie garden I can manage.

Every year I have plans for something during our short summer in the PNW. Last year I added a couple more garden beds, and this year I’m determined to build more structures for vertical gardening. Cukes, squash and whatever else I can grow up, instead of out, to maximize my garden space. I’ve discovered PVC pipe is cheap or free and makes a sturdy structure.

I’m really looking forward to getting serious irrigation put in the garden. Now that we’ve been here two years I feel like I understand the sun patterns and I’m ready to commit. Now, how to do that in addition to having a baby in June? Hmm….

We are in the midst of a huge remodeling of the center of our home- kitchen, eating area, and family room..I’m most looking forward to putting it all back together again and reorganizing cupboards and pantries. I love to pare down what we have and be surrounded by all that I truly cherish.

In the garden I am most looking forward to getting the container part of my garden going…spearmint, clove pinks, wild rose, dill are waiting to go in. Inside, I most look forward to seeing curtains, blanket, & robe being sewn.

We just bought a home on an acre so we will be converting the shed into a chicken coop, fencing in half an acre of a couple of pigs, planting fruit trees, and of course growing all the veggies I can stand!

I strive to brings inspiration and vitality to our modern day in the spirit of the yesteryears. Following my heart, allowing my hands to connect with the soil, to create with natures gifts and bring beauty and light for a more homeopathic, natural, and balanced way of life. Believing our ancestors had it right, I strive to learn, and to create in an environment that fosters the spirit of their ways. Unfortunately so many of their traditions seemed to have been lost in the last generation, so I too am one of the “awakening” trying to learn the re-found knowledge. I’ve began a little business reclaiming material to reclaim our roots. It’s just getting started. But I’m loving every minute of it, and having ideas pop in my head with every ordinary object I see

I have ripped out almost all of the old carpeting in the house–hello cement floors! I’d like to chip out all the ceramic tile too, for a clean surface throughout the whole house. Lotta work but worth it.

well, since i will be moving this summer, that seems like it will be our biggest project. but my partner and i are most excited about having a strong commitment to pickling and putting up preserves as well as teaching ourselves DIY bike maintenance! first step: new paint jobs. yay!

Looking forward to remodeling the bathroom with new sink, flooring, and counter tops. As well as remodeling the room right next to it. Taking up the carpet and putting down tile flooring. Eventually this room will become the laundry room.

Looking forward to my third year of jarring and preserving our homegrown produce! I really enjoy presefving, once you get the basics down its totally an art form. This year I’m trying my hand at cheesemaking!

Painting the new (Dec 2010) vaulted ceiling in our kitchen. Pine v-groove boards with rough cedar box beams.
Can’t decide on stain, whitewash, or ????
Love the tip on what to do with fresh homemade bread!

Okay, my goal for the spring 2012 is to rearrange my fiber storage in my laundry room. I want my fleeces and yarn stored so that I can see them, but they are protected from bugs! I also want to do this without spending a whole lot of money! So as an avid fan of Improvised Life I am trying so hard to think outside the box! I added to my Amazon wishlist the metal pegboard, that seems to be a wonderful solution for convenient storage, hooks and magnets too!!!

Spring is such a great time: all of the new beginnings that occur. I’m looking forward to planting a small vegetable garden in May. Nothing tastes better in late summer than a homegrown tomato! I seem to eat them like candy! I also plan on putting my house on the market early Fall – so any ideas to freshen up a small cottage style Cape circa 1948 would be helpful! Now if there was just a way to increase the number of hours during the weekends….

I think I’ll toggle back and forth between redoing my pantry shelves and recovering a small sofa. The pantry shelves are too deep and dark, and things get lost back there! And the sofa has been banished to the garage when it should be a comfy place to flop near the fireplace. All in due time…

Oh – there are so many! Getting the hardscape in our yard finished then actually planting a garden! Then putting windows in the basement to create a new office for me (one without a 2 year old who falls asleep at 7:30 each night rendering the computer useless) that looks out onto the new yard.

I am always happy to get back in the garden in the spring, and less than thrilled about all the cleanup projects on my list, but this year’s big excitement is the chicken coop we are building in anticipation of the backyard chickens that are arriving in May!

I’m still cleaning out the garden debris, and looking forward to planting the vegetable garden, repainting the wooden furniture on my porches, and putting like items together inside the house, and outside.
One little step at a time, I want to clean out, and clean up everything, from the greenhouse to the barn. We have fences to rebuild, the fields to irritate, aging animals who need T LC, and it’s all overwhelming, but gratifying.
In short, I’m looking forward to the joy of making a little progress.

hmmm, summer projects! always enticing! I have this little cabin in the woods and am dreaming about an outside shower. I know I will use a solar bag to heat the water and eco friendly soap but I am still working on the other details. In any event, the idea of watering my little patch while showering, after I finished raking and planting, and looking at the sky, sounds very fulfilling.

Like so many others, hard to know where to start, the garden, better planning and more canning and freezing. Clearing the house and basement of clutter so I can get to the things I actually want to use (like my sewing supplies), refinishing floors, painting, not to mention playing with my children (I have this summer off too!!).

I’m determined to get all the enormous stacks of books off the floor and into improvised bookcases/shelves this summer. HOWEVER. . . I’m in need of inspiration!
Old crates stacked high? Glass blocks with fabric-covered plywood? Nothing feels right. . .yet.

I wil install 10 – 8′ poles vertically into the ground surrounding our 12 big, mature blueberry bushes. Next, in June, before the berries are mature, Carl and I will crow-proof the entire blueberry patch by wrapping the area outlined by posts in netting—including the top. Using the “Hip-Girls Guide….,” I will learn to tie the knots to secure the door enclosure. A secure door helps everyone—friends, neighbors and ourselves— to easily enter the berry patch, pick the berries while keeping the birds out.

I am looking forward to baking the cookies that will be the favors for my wedding. Snickerdoodles from the Fanny Farmer Baking Book and Chocolate Chip cookies from the Splendid Table radio show/website!

I have a garden that I plant like the French Potagier. It has been extremely successful in our 16×16 garden. Last year I added blueberry bushes and raspberry bushes and a grape vine to the perimeter. This year I hope to espiliar (sp) an apple tree on the fence line and move my herb bed. Wish me luck! My secret (not so secret) dream is to add a chicken coop!

I am looking forward to so many things this summer! It’s difficult to pick one. I guess I’m most looking forward to developing my flower gardens so that when I walk up tp my house I love the way it looks.

This summer I hope to grow enough rhubarb for a pie, enough raspberries for jam, and enough veggies to can a few and make a giant batch of tomato sauce. Kate is such an inspiration – can’t believe I don’t have the book yet… thanks for the chance to win!

I am looking forward to tearing out an old furnace that fills my front door area and building shelves galore to contain everything from canning to shoes to coats! Talking all-purpose mudroom/pantry. My goal is to reuse as many of the materials as possible. Another big goal for me this summer is to learn to can!

My girlfriend and I are moving into our first place together this summer and it’s huge! I’m excited for so many things…decorating, setting up our kitchen, stocking our pantries, growing herbs on the deck, and trying my hand at canning for the first time.

I’ve wanted to try my hand at canning for the longest time! I just feel like I need to read up on the subject more before I venture into the unknown. I also want to fix up my apartment patio with some planters and make my own little oasis/garden for juicing!

I have never been great at setting up and organizing my home especially after a move. We moved into our apartment approximately 3 years ago. Since then I’ve received several loads of my stuff being returned to me by various friends who were gracious to store it for me. Of course I did receive my stuff after I had organized and set everything else up in the house to run nicely. The last batch of items I have had for about a year and have neither found the motivation nor time nor desire nor inspiration let alone no ideas on how to organize it in a way that he can be used at a moments notice. I would love to try the ideas in the book and see how inspired I might get from what the author has written and/or suggested on how to set up and organize items. Thank you for steering me out. Good luck to all of us who have entered the contest.

We are planning to turn our entire yard into an edible yard, including the front yard. We started last year, by putting in a veg garden, adding chickens and a cobb oven. Then last fall we planted garlic around our front walkway.

This year we’ve expanded our garden, have added hops to our yard (my husband brews), have added a “biscuit stove”, have increased our chicken flock and are planning to add berry bushes and fruit trees.

It’s a slow process, but we hope to use the Dervaes family in Pasadena as a role-model and keep extending what we raise and grow each year!

I’ve started a couple pots of morning glories and am building little trellaces to line the insides of my sunny bedroom windows. They are starting to come up, and I’m looking to bedroom windows lined with morning glory vines!

I’ve moved into a small space and dumped about 2/3 of my possessions. I’m still learning how to utilize the space. The hardest part is decorating: How to display the things I love without over crowding. How to be clean clear, simple, functional, and not just look sparce or poverty stricken.

Hey, I’m a stay at home dad with three boys….and boy do I have some projects to tackle and probably top of the list would be to get my garden producing. So thanks for the freebie opportunity and i’ll look forward to more you’re terrific postings

This summer is shaping up to be a very big one with a short move involved. I am a single mother and my family have been in a housing program which when we complete it this June will see us with a section 8 voucher after 8 years of being homeless. We will move into a slightly larger apartment that I will need to make functional at a very low cost. WE are living on $475.oo a month total cash income and I need to make all things work with that. So I will be pulling 58 years of experience together in making everything I can from donated materials or things purchased at very low cost. I will be up-cycling, recycling, re-purposing or scratch building things in a rented garage with a girlfriend where we will be trying to make things we can sell to people just like ourselves that will be high quality and low cost. Our goal is to build our selves a small business and at the same time help build a community within our apartment complex.

I’m going to install a drip irrigation system (to go with the rainwater harvesting tank I’ve installed) for the front garden. And mulch the front. And plant it with lots of drought tolerant native plants.

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